Movie review: ‘Far from the Tree’ celebrates differences

Al Alexander More Content Now

Thursday

Aug 2, 2018 at 11:29 AMAug 2, 2018 at 11:29 AM

Rachel Dretzin cut her teeth as a director on the superb documentary series “Frontline.” But her first feature, “Far from the Tree,” isn’t close to being PBS worthy, let alone fodder for the local cineplex. It’s sloppy, disjointed and rambling, abating her stated goal of highlighting parents of “special” children almost from the get-go. But given the level of empathy her collection of stories stirs, it can’t be fully dismissed.

Inspired by Andrew Solomon’s best-seller of the same name, “Far from the Tree” is largely an unspectacular rending of very special offspring who’ve taught their parents the value of patience, understanding and unconditional love. To her detriment, Dretzin approaches it like she’s ordering off a menu: One from column A, the 40-year-old with Down syndrome; one from column B, a nonverbal teen with Asperger’s; two from column C, a married couple with dwarfism; one from column D, a teen who murdered an 8-year-old by slashing his throat; and one from column E, Solomon himself, an openly gay “weirdo” who fought decades for his father’s approval.

Ah, I bet, like me, you’re wondering how a convicted child-killer made the cut in a film about emotional uplift. I haven’t a clue. Are we to feel something for this deranged thug? It’s nice that his parents still love him, but I’ll bet the prison farm they’re the only ones. I’m also perplexed as to why Solomon is included, and in turn the belief that homosexuality is equitable with murder and people born with mental and chromosomal disorders. Could it be he wouldn’t sell the rights to his book without getting a mention or three in Dretzin’s doc?

Instead of him and the murderer, Dretzin would have been wise to dig deeper into the lives of her film’s most fun and appealing subjects, Joseph Stramondo and Leah Smith, married dwarfs whose optimistic attitude toward life is endearing and infectious. Joe, bound to a wheelchair, tells Dretzin that many people approach him bearing pity, assuming his life is miserable. But the total opposite is true. He loves his life and couldn’t be happier, especially when word comes that Leah might be pregnant.

Therein lay the movie’s most important takeaway: That too many “normal” folks assume those with an abnormality spend their days drowning in self-pity. Hint: They don’t. And nothing makes them angrier than doctors and researchers who want to “cure” them of their affliction.

From what we learn from most of the parents is that they are the ones who needed the fixing, learning to accept that their children are vastly different from them. And almost all the moms and dads have movingly assimilated, including Solomon’s formerly homophobe father. The problem is that any one of these half-dozen stories would make for a terrific movie on their own. But in shoehorning them together in a too-short 92-minute flick, it never allows for any in-depth study or insight.

Dretzin certainly means well, but she seems to have entered this endeavor without a plan, piecing it together as she goes along. The result is wildly erratic, so much so she eventually abandons her plan to tell — like the book — these stories from the perspective of the parents, opting instead for the child’s-eye view.

It not only defeats the film’s purpose, it also summons unfavorable comparisons to movies like the Oscar-nominated “Life, Animated,” which chronicled a mentally challenged male who responded only to Disney cartoons. Here, 40-year-old Jason Kingsley, who some may remember from his appearances on “Sesame Street” as a Down syndrome child, is smitten with Elsa from “Frozen,” who he believes is real and living in Norway, where he wants to visit against his mother’s wishes. It’s like deja vu, barely addressing how Jason’s mind so deeply relates to “Frozen.” It’s a shortcoming that prevails through all these stories — well, all but the one told about Trevor Reese, the kid spending the rest of his life in Louisiana’s Angola state prison.

Wisely, Dretzin ends on an uplifting note with Joe and Leah, happy and smiling with warmth and humanity. You wish the film offered much more than that, but for now, their wide grins are more than enough to send you home wishing we could all appreciate life as much as they do. The couple may be short, but their hearts are big enough to fill a room.